Friday, May 19, 2017

Metropolitan Beaches Commission Co-Chairs Senator Thomas M. McGee
of Lynn and Rep. RoseLee Vincent of Revere invite you to share your thoughts
on the state of our public beaches in Lynn, Swampscott, and Nahant at a
public hearing on Tuesday evening, May 30 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
at Lynn Museum/LynnArts on 590 Washington St. Lynn, MA 01901. Parking
is available at the museum parking lot, on the street in front, or at the MBTA
parking lot across the street.

King's Beach

The hearing will include:

Updates from Save the Harbor/EEA’s Beach Science Advisory Committee on
planned improvements to water quality on King’s Beach.

Updates from DCR on plans to remove algae this summer.

Updates from the Friends of Lynn and Nahant Beach on summer program
expansion.

Updates from the Commission on the FY2018 DCR Budget for the
Metropolitan Beaches.

Following the updates, the Commission Co-Chairs, representatives of DCR
and EEA, and members of the Commission including Rep. Brendan Crighton
and Robert Tucker of Lynn and Town Manager Jeff Chelgren and Mounzer
Aylouche of Nahant, all look forward to hearing from you.

Please direct questions and RSVPs to Maddie Clair at clair@savetheharbor.org
or call 617-451-2860 ext. 1007
For more information on the Metropolitan Beaches Commission, please visit www.savetheharbor.org/MBC.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Hi all!
I am so excited to begin my environmental policy internship at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay this summer! I am a rising junior at The George Washington University in Washington D.C. but I am from the lovely Boston, MA! I clearly love living in the city since I was raised in Boston and decided to live on a campus surrounded by motorcades and busy streets. Though D.C. is an amazing place to live, nothing beats the view of the Boston skyline from the BU bridge! When I am in D.C., I study political science. Though sometimes trying, I love analysing and comparing various political behaviours and activities. Environmental policy is growing increasingly popular in government and society. Environmental policy has a major effect on our day to day lives, especially as climate control is becoming a hot (literally hot) topic! I am eager to begin working with the staff to preserve the amazing beaches and waterfronts in the Boston area.

I am extremely lucky to have spent part of my summers growing up down Martha's Vineyard enjoying the beaches and community with my family. This helped me garner a massive appreciation for the fun and excitement beaches can give to kids and families. I am lucky to be a part of an organisation that is so dedicated to bringing awareness to Boston kids and families about the amazing opportunities they have in their backyard! People do not have to travel far to spend a fun filled day at the beach as long as they know the resources available to them. I am very invested in preserving Boston's plethora of beautiful sites to provide countless opportunities to the Boston community.
It is only my second day and I am already amazed by how much work this staff puts into giving back to the Boston community. Everyone works to ensure Save the Harbor is doing the best it can to maintain constant preservation of the beaches and their supporters within the Boston area.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

My name is Naomi, and
I’m excited to spend the summer at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay as an Environmental Policy Intern. I have an
undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies/Ecology from Bates College, where I spent
most of my time working on water quality monitoring projects in streams and
lakes throughout Maine and New Hampshire, and helping the Sustainability Office raise student awareness of environmental issues on campus. After graduation, I spent two years in Panama
with the Peace Corps, where I worked in the rural town
of San Andrés on projects to engage community-members in protecting their water sources: reforestation, waste
management, and environmental education, in addition to organizing an environmental youth
group.

I moved to Boston a year ago to
continue my environmental and outdoor education work in the non-profit
sector. I am eager to combine my
scientific background with my community engagement skills to assist in the analysis of Save the
Harbor/Save the Bay’s water quality data for Boston area beaches, and to support the organization’s efforts to build community consensus around improving the public beaches of Swampscott, Lynn, and Dorchester. I am thrilled to continue my work to protect our waterways with such an
accomplished organization, and am looking forward to gaining new experiences in
public policy.

My name is Sophie Clark and I have recently joined the Save the Harbor/Save the Bay team as an Environmental Policy Intern. I am a senior at the University of Maryland where I will graduate in December. I’m majoring in History with a concentration in African history, and I’m minoring in Sustainability. I live on the North Shore where I am lucky enough to come home to the beautiful town of Ipswich each summer.

Going to school in Maryland, I’ve been very close to Washington, D.C the past four years, so having the opportunity to work in Boston and experience a different city is something I’m looking forward to very much. While searching for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay the morning of the new intern orientation, I didn’t realize that the office was literally on Fish Pier in the middle of all the fish distributors. This made me all the more excited. I love being right on the water and being able to look out the window and see the fishing boats.

I decided to take this internship to learn more about working in a non-profit organization as well as to learn about policy work. Even though I’m getting a degree in history, I’m much more interested in my minor, sustainability. I’m very passionate about ocean conservation and protection and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is an organization where I can pursue this interest. While I’m very excited to learn about the policy and environmental side of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, I’m also interested to see what the education and community programs are like.

I’m so happy to have been given this great opportunity to work with such an influential organization and I can’t wait to see what this summer will bring at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.

I am excited to announce that I am the new Administrative Intern at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. My name is Grace Coleman, and I am a current student at Rice University in Houston, Texas. I am working towards a major in Environmental Policy and History. I spend most of my free time reading, eating and being outside as much as possible.

Every summer I spend a few weeks with my grandparents in Gloucester, MA and enjoying the beautiful beaches of the North Shore. Most of my childhood memories of my extended family revolve around happy, sun filled beach days. Because of this, I am so happy that the work of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is to keep beaches clean for others so that they can have the same positive experiences. In addition, I am beyond excited to be in Boston for the entirety of the summer.

Over time, my love of the outdoors has evolved into a passion for the environment, and I have used that passion in my involvement in many projects, including a large recycling and e-waste recycling project in my hometown of University Park, Texas. In addition, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay's mission of beach restoration and conservation hits me close to home because of the pollution of Texas's beaches. I hope to learn a lot from the advocacy work of Save the Harbor in the hopes of someday making the same sort of impact in my home state.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

This weekend marked Save the Harbor/Save the Bay's annual
Marine Mammals Safari Cruise! This was my first time on the trip, exploring
the harbor in search of seals and porpoises willing to surface and say hello on
the rainy day.

The clouds made identifying the sea critters increasingly
difficult, especially the porpoises whose brief appearances could be missed in
the blink of eye! From the looks on the passengers' many faces, however, this
did not detract from the amount of fun had from catching a glimpse of one of
these marine mammals peering their heads out of the water. Nor did it deter
them! I saw many a passenger equipped with binoculars, bouncing from one deck
to the next in hopes of being the next one to announce a sighting. Admittedly
many blunders were made; driftwood being mistaken for porpoises; buoys being
taken for seals. I myself may have announced a sighting or two that panned out
to be nothing more than a bobbing cormorant head.

Though I enjoyed spotting the
different marine mammals "porpoising" about the harbor, the highlight
of the trip came at its close, when the STHSTB staff and myself escorted the passengers
off the ship and shared our last farewells. The many thanks and words of
appreciation we received from the exiting voyagers and their families reaffirmed
for me the importance of the organization's mission to provide Boston's neighborhoods and communities with opportunities like these affording the city's
inhabitants the chance to interact directly with its beautiful harbor!

It feels good to get to hold a crab after almost a year. It also feels good to get to hold a lobster for the first time and showing it to the kids. For the first time in my life, I got to hold an alive lobster, Lola to be exact. At first, I could not tell whether it was a male or a female lobster, but then, somebody told me and other people that if the inside top legs were soft, it was a female. And if the inside top legs were harsh, it was a male. That was an important fact to know about lobster because many kids asked me how did I know if it was a male or a female. When the kids arrived at the touch tank, the first thing they asked was "is it alive?", "can I touch it?" or "how much does it weigh?". They were amazed the first time they saw Lola in my hand. Some kids ran away from it and others got closer to it. When it started to move, the kids got afraid and moved two steps back.

When the first kid touched it, the others started to touch it too. Although we had a crab and it was big, the kids paid more attention to the lobster. It was a windy day so the kids that were outside, decided to go back inside and do some fish printing, draw or to listen to a story from Tony the Pirate. It was a fun day and it was good to bring back some good and amazing memories from the amazing summer I had with SHSB.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Last Wednesday, I came back home with my second family, the Save The Harbor crew at an event. Atlantic Wharf was where the event was held. I saw Cristian, Rusenny, and Nieomi there as well, helping out. The kids were really into the fish printing and they continued to go back and make more and more. There was also a pirate there to entertain the kids with ghostly stories and other pirate related games. Larry made a guest appearance too, well apparently this lovely lobster was named Lola, but the name will always be Larry. When the kids went outside onto the patio to see Larry, they were amazed. Some have never seen a real lobster before. Some of the kids were scared that he would pinch them, but we showed them that his claws were rubber banded together to prevent that from happening. A few kids were more inclined to pet Larry, but other preferred to observe from a distance. Can't blame them, before I started working at Save The Harbor, if anyone would have told me I would pick up a lobster or crab I would have laughed because I never saw myself doing that. But now, after working with my second family, it is second nature for me.

The fish printing was once again a messy part of the day, different color ink sliding down the flounder. The kids were so curious about what we would do to the flounder after they were done painting on it. Since we do not believe in waste, we would use it as bait. Their eyes looked so big when we told them that, because they thought we were harming the wildlife of the sea. I explained to a little girl that since the ink used is non-toxic, it won't hurt the crabs or lobsters at all. She then got a relieved look on her face. I can say, this day was better spent than just sitting at home watching t.v. or being on a laptop. To educate the kids in something that they had some knowledge about, but not a lot was the best time spent. Hopefully, I'll be able to come back "home" this summer and continue having this wonderful feeling

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Welcome!

Save the Harbor/Save the Bayis a non-profit public-interest Boston Harbor environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to restore and protect Boston Harbor, Massachusetts Bay, the Boston Harbor Islands, the Boston Harbor region's public beaches, Boston's waterfront and the marine environment and share them with the public, for everyone to enjoy.

Since 1986, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay has been the driving force behind the transformation of Boston Harbor from one of the dirtiest urban harbors in America to one of the cleanest in the world.

As a result of our advocacy, Boston Harbor has been transformed from a "Harbor of Shame" into a source of recreational, educational and economic opportunity and civic pride. Today the beaches of South Boston are among the cleanest urban beaches in the nation, the Boston Harbor Islands are a National Park, and Boston's waterfront has become a compelling destination for residents and visitors alike.

Working with a broad base of civic, corporate, government, scientific, philanthropic and community partners, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay continues to strengthen the connections between communities and the harbor, and promote the increasingly important impact Boston Harbor has on the region’s economy.

Each year Save the Harbor / Save the Bay runs 2 freeYouth Environmental Education Programs that combine recreation and hands-on education to bring Boston Harbor alive for thousands of Boston area young people. Since 2003, we have connected nearly 250,000 youth and teens to Boston Harbor, the Boston Harbor Islands, our region's public beaches and Boston's waterfront.

Our "Boston Harbor Explorers" program serves thousands of young people at the Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown, the Piers Park Sailing Center and Constitution Beach in East Boston, DCR's Carson Beach in South Boston, at Community Boating on the Charles River, on Black's Creek in Quincy, and at Camp Harbor View on Long Island and at The Boston Children's Museum.Our"All Access Boston Harbor"program departs weekdays from the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in South Boston, and brings thousands of youth and teens from more than 100 community groups to Georges or Spectacle Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Park on the Provincetown II.

OurBetter Beaches Program supports dozens of free events and activities on the region's public beaches each year in Nahant, Lynn, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy and Hull.

We hope we can count on you as we share Boston Harbor with 30,000 young people on 28 free island excursions and at 40 free events and programs on the region's public beaches in 2018.For more information about Save the Harbor/Save the Bay please visit our website at www.savetheharbor.org